Road-scarifier.



S. WRIGHT.

ROAD SCARIFIER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26, m4.

Patented July 16, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET l- S. WRIGHT.

ROAD SCARIFIER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 26. 1914.

1,272,755. Patented J111y16,1918,

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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Guam W13 SIDNEY WRIGHT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ROAD-SCARIFIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 1918.

Application filed September 26, 1914. Serial No. 863,737.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY WRIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road-Scarifiers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to road scarifiers, and it comprises an improved machine of this class which may be readily reversed in the operation of tearing up a roadway, and also transported from place to place, without requiring any adjustments or operations other than connecting the draft chains to a tractor, and which is so constructed that the initial pull of the tractor thereon, in reversing, will rock the body about its axis and force the picks into the ground before the scarifier starts to follow the tractor.

The construction and operation of my invention will be clear from the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which.

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the scarifier- Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section through the same;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same;

Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the inner side of one of the arms in which the gage wheels are mounted, and

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal, central section through the scarifier, in one working position, showing also the connection. to the tractor, to illustrate the operation of rocking the scarifier to the other working position.

Referring to the drawing, A indicates the body of the scarifier comprising an oblong boxlike casting having perpendicular side walls 1, a short base 2, and end walls 3 which slope. upwardly in opposite directions from the base to the upper ends of the side walls. The body is mounted upon an axle 4 carried by a pair of supporting wheels 5, this axle extending transversely of the body, about midway between its ends and through its lower portion, substantially on a line pass ing vertically through its center of mass, the arrangement being such that the body may be rocked or tilted about the axis of the supporting wheels, without great effort, from one working position to the other. Pick sockets are provided in bosses 6 and 7 at the junctures of the end walls and the base, and two sets of picks, 8 and 9, respectively, are arranged in these sockets and slope downwardly in opposite directions. Hawse-holes or passageways a and a are provided in the upper portions of the end walls of the body, these passageways being substantially radial to the axis of the axle 4, and draft chains 10 and 11 extend through these passageways and have their inner ends connected to a ring 12, to which is attached one end of a spring 13, the other end 13 of the spring being flattened and perforated and fitting into a slot 14 in a metal block 14, which is connected to the axle 4 by two clevises 15. The draft chains are provided at their outer ends with rings 10 and 11 by which they may be connected to the draw bar of a road roller or other tractor, and these rings also prevent the free ends of the chains from dropping back through the openings into the interior of the hollow body of the scarifier. The openings are large enough in diameter to permit the chain links to play freely except near their outer ends, where the walls of the openings are contracted as shown at 16 in order to confine the chains to the central longitudinal line of the body so that when the scarifier is pulled by either chain, it will follow the line of draft and be prevented from swerving to one side or the other by the chain. The lower walls of the openings at their outer ends, indicated at 16 form bearing surfaces for the chains or cables. In Fig. 2, the free end of the chain 11 is shown in horizontal position, and the ring 11 is assumed to be at the height of the draw hook or draw bar on the rear end of the average road roller. It will be evident that if the ring is connected to the roller or tractor, and the latter started forward, the chain will bear upon the surface 16 and tilt the scarifier until the picks 9 are forced into the ground, and the chain assumes the angle indicated by the dotted line 17, and the continued pull by the tractor tends to place the weight of the rear end of the scarifier upon the picks. The depth to which the teeth enter theground may be regulated by the chain alone; but, preferably, gage wheels 18 are arranged in forks 19 projecting from the end walls of the scarifier body. These forks are provided with a plural ty of perforations 19 arranged in.

pairs, and the pins or axles 20 upon which the gage wheels are mounted, may be inserted through a pair of openings, to adjust the positions of the wheels to regulate the depth to which the picks-enter the ground.

When the scarifier body is in horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 2, the picks do not engage the ground andin thisposition the scarifier may be transported from place to place by drawing the chain into the body, as shown at the left of Fig. 2, and inserting a cross-pin or bar 21 through one of the links so that a short hitch can be made to the draw bar of the tractor. By then con-necting the ring 10 to the draw bar of the tractor, thedraw bar will hold the scarifier in the horizontal position, with the picks out of engagement with the ground, and in this way the sca-rifier may be moved from place to place. hen the scarifier reaches the point where it is to be used. the pin 21 is removed, so that the chain 10 may be free to pull outward toallow the scarifier bodyto rock. The scarifier is then pulled alternately in opposite directions by attaching the .road roller to the chains 10 and 11 alternatel Each chain as it is pulled taut will rock the scarifier so as to force one set of picks into the ground. When the scarifier is at rest, after-having been operated. in one direction, the body lies in a tilted position with the picks at :one end penetrating the ground and the 'hawse-hole at the opposite end ofthe bod-y raised above-the height of the draw "bar ofthe tractor, as illustrated in F 5. Now, when theseari-fier is to be pulled in the opposite direction, the tractor is hooked to the chain at the elevated end of the scarifier, and the initial pull of the tractor causes the chain to bear downward heavily upon the surface 16'' at the elevated end and to rock the body about itsaxis and force the teeth at said end into the ground before the body starts to follow the tractor. Then the scarifier follows the tractor and thecha-imresting upon the bearing surface, prevents the teeth from rising out of the ground. Preferably, the length of chain is such that-the angle at which the picksengage the ground will be about forty-five degrees to the horizontal, as this .is the best working angle for the picks. As the draw bar on the front of a road roller is usually higher than that at the rear, an additional length of chain will be required at the forward end of the roller in order to tilt the scarifier, when pulled from the forward end,

stated, the chains when pulled taut will hold the teeth at practically a fixed depth in the ground.

It will be noted that the teeth are spaced evenly apart, and-an=equal number of teeth are on each side of a vertical line passing centrally through the hawse-holes or openings a, a. As the chain is confined to this central line, at the contracted portions of the openings, the line of draft will be central, and owing to the balanced arrangement of the teeth, there will be little or no Itendency for the scarifier to swerve to either side while working in homogeneous .material; but, should a tooth at one side or the; other stick .and throw the scarifier from its course, it will be immediately brought back to its course by the straightening of the chain.

.l t is desirable to relieve the tractor of shock, and for this purpose the spring 13 is chain is transmitted to the axle through the spring, which serves as a shock absorber.

If, while the scarifier is in operation, an obstacle is met with which it is undesirable to disturb, the picks may be loosened from the ground by backing the tractor against the scarifier, to force it backward a few. inches, and-asthe scarifier body is centrally balanced, the operator may raise the picks at the forward end .of the body above the obstacle by bearing downward upon the rear end of the body, and the scarifier-n'iay .then be pulled over the obstacle, the Wei-ght-ofthe operators body holding the picks out of engagement.

From the foregoing descriptiomit willbe seen that the scarifier vof my-inventionis one that may he handled for all @of its intended purposes with aminimum amount of manual labor, no adjustments being requiredto reverse the machine while working ,or to suit it for transportation from place to place; also that the power is applied to the scarifier vin-snch a way as ,to insure the forceful penetration .of the picks into the ground before the scarifier starts to roll forward. What I claim is: I 1. A road .scarifier adapted for operation back and forth a tractorand comprising a wheeled supporting axle, an oblong metal body centrally supported thereon and adapted .to tiltiabout :the axes of the Wheels from one working position .to the other, .picks projecting from the lower portion of the body at each side of the aXle, gage members supported at the ends of the body permanently higher than the pick points and each adapted to engage the ground only when the adjacent pick points are within the ground, and draft connections ada ted to beardownwardly on the raised end of the body and rock the latter from one working position to the other at the initial pull of the tractor.

2. A road scarifier adapted for operation back and forth by a tractor and comprising a wheeled supporting axle, an oblong metal body centrally supported thereon and adapted to tilt about the axes of the wheels from one working position to the other, said body having pick-supporting means in its lower portion at each side of the axle and having bearing surfaces at its ends higher than the axle, and flexible draft connections secured at the central part of the body and extending over said bearing surfaces.

3. A road scarifier adapted for operation back and fort-h by a tractor and comprising a wheeled supporting axle, an oblong metal body centrally supported thereon and adapted to tilt about the axes of the wheels from one working position to the other, said body having pick-supporting means in its lower portion at each side of the axle and having bearing surfaces at its ends higher than the axle, and flexible, yielding, draft connections extending over said bearing surfaces and connected to the central part of the scarifier.

4:. A road scarifier adapted for operation back and forth by a tractor and comprising a wheeled supporting axle, an oblong metal body centrally supported thereon and adapted to tilt about the axes of the wheels from one working position to the other, said body having pick-supporting means in its lower portion at each side of the axle and having openings at its ends higher than the axle, and flexible draft connections extending through said openings and connected to the central part of the scarifier.

5. A road scarifier comprising a wheeled supporting axle, an oblong metal body cen trally supported thereon and adapted to rock about the axes of the Wheels, said body having bearing surfaces at its ends higher than the axle and having pick supporting means in its lower portion at each side of the axle, a spring connected to the axle, and flexible draft connections extending from said spring over said bearing surfaces.

6. A road scarifier comprising a wheeled supporting axle, an oblong metal body centrally supported thereon and adapted to rock about the axes of the wheels, said body having upwardly extending walls at its ends and openings through said walls substantially on the longitudinal central line of the body and higher than the axle and having pick supporting means in its lower portion at each side of the axle, and draft connections extending from the lower central portion of the scarifier through said openings.

7. A road scarifier comprising a wheeled supporting axle, an oblong metal body centrally supported thereon and adapted to rock about the axes of the wheels, said body having upwardly extending walls at its ends and openings through said walls substantially on the longitudinal central line of the body and higher than the axle and having pick supporting means in its lower portion at each side of the axle, and draft connections extending from the axle through said openings.

8. A road scarifier comprising a wheeled supporting axle, an oblong metal body centrally supported thereon and adapted to rock about the axes of the wheels, said body having upwardly extending walls at its ends and upwardly extending openings through said walls substantially on the longitudinal central line of the body and radial to the axle and having pick supporting means in its lower portion at each side of the axle, and draft connections extending from the axle through said openings.

9. A road scarifier comprising a wheeled. supporting axle, an oblong metal body cen trally supported thereon and adapted to rock about the axes of the wheels, said body having bearing surfaces at its ends higher than the axle and having pick supporting means in its lower portion at each side of the axle, gage wheels adjustably mounted in the ends of the body, and draft connections extending from the lower central portion of the scarifier over said bearing sur faces.

10. A road scarifier comprising a wheeled supporting axle, a metal body centrally supported thereon and adapted to rock about the axes of the wheels, said body having upwardly extending walls at its ends and upwardly extending openings through said walls substantially on the longitudinal central line of the body and said body having picks in its lower portion at each side of the axle and distributed equally on each side of its longitudinal central line, and flexible draft connections extending from the lower central portion of the scarifier through said openings and fitting closely within portions of the openings.

11. A road scarifier comprising a wheeled supporting axle, a metal body centrally supported thereon and having upwardly projecting end walls, said. end walls having upwardly extending openings therein extending substantially radial to the axis of the body and on the longitudinal central line of the body, said openings having contracted portions, and said body having pick supporting means at each side of the axle, and flexible draft connections extending from the lower central portion of the body through said openings and fitting closely within said contracted portions.

12. In a road scarifier, a wheel supported axle, a body centrally supported thereon and having upwardly extending end walls, said end Walls having openings thei'ethrough In testimony whereof I have affixed my higher than the axle, draft chains extending signature, in presence of .tWo Witnesses. through said openings and connected to the SIDNEY WRIGHT central portion of the searifier, and a removable fastening device fitting in one of Witnesses:

the chain links at the inner side of an end EDWARD WRIG e Wall, to shorten thehitch of the chain. J. N. SHIEIRV Copies of this patent may be obtained f or five cents each, by addressing the flol npiiseiogle of latent s Washington, D. G. 

